Inside scoop: is Phil in hot water?
Mickelson decries Hunterbrook report that alleges he's been dishing on insider info
Phil Mickelson’s active socials have raised questions (Michael Miller/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Since the LIV Golf season ended in late August, Phil Mickelson has seemingly spent more time on his social media apps than he has at his backyard chipping area in Southern California.
Some of that keyboard warrior activity might get him in trouble — or at the very least has raised some concerns.
The six-time major winner has been alleged to have received inside information regarding an offshore oil company and distributing that information to a private group of shareholders, according to the financial publication Hunterbrook.
Mickelson responded on Friday with a post calling the report “slanderous.”
Never mind that a false written report would fall under the category of libel and not slander (which is false statement made verbally), but an injurious defamatory story regarding a public figure requires malice to be proven as the basis for a lawsuit.
Hunterbrook published a story on Friday that included several private messages that allegedly were shared by the golfer with a group of investors for a Houston-based startup oil company called Sable Offshore.
According to the report, Mickelson shared non-public information based on interactions with Sable Offshore CEO Jim Flores. The Hunterbrook story suggested that such discussions could have legal fallout for Mickelson, the company’s chief executive or both.
The company reportedly paid $988 million to assume control of an oil field from Exxon off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., and attracted investors seeking a return. The key, according to the report, was being able to restart production from the Santa Ynez offshore oil infrastructure — a processing facility that had been shut down a decade ago following an environmental problem. Due to regulatory issues, Sable Offshore has been unable to restart production and the company’s stock price has fallen more than 50 percent in the past year.
During all of that time, Mickelson has made dozens of posts on X (formerly Twitter) about the company and various issues associated with its plight, often taking issue with California elected officials and regulators.
Given Mickelson’s own history with insider trading scenarios, the story at the very least is not a good look.